The “Send Amor and Exile to Washington” campaign ran from May 11th through June 1st, 2013 on Indiegogo.com. The campaign video featured Nicole Salgado and Nathaniel Hoffman speaking about the goals of their campaign and message of their book. An archived version of the campaign can be viewed here. The campaign goal to raise $11,000 to deliver a copy of Amor and Exile to every member of Congress was ultimately successful.
SUPPORTERS
“Send Amor and Exile to Washington” was underwritten by 229 individuals representing more than 29 states and 4 countries and raised $12,016 in 21 days.
The following individuals supported the Send Amor and Exile to Washington campaign at the “Love Indie Publishing” level ($200 and up):
Adele Abrahamse Roof
Ann Wolfson
Arnie Richman
Ashlee Ramirez
Bevan Miller
Debbie & Ron Salgado
Dr. Vida Kenk
Jaime & Fern Schwartzberg
Jeffrey Miller
Kitty Miller
Marshall Simmonds
Miriam and Forrest Foss
Marjorie & Steven Hoffman
On June 13th and 14th, 2013, Nathaniel and Nicole traveled to Washington, D.C. to deliver 546 copies of Amor and Exile in person to the offices of every member of Congress, President Obama and Vice-President Biden, and the Supreme Court Justices.
All supporters’ names (except anonymous contributors) were listed on the following letter, which was included with every copy of the book given to governmental officials:
June 13, 2013
Dear Representative,
The last major immigration overhaul, IIRIRA, passed 17 years ago with the stated intention of securing our borders and cutting down on illegal immigration to the U.S. However, one of the unfortunate side effects of this law was to create a legal black hole for hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of American citizen spouses and partners of undocumented immigrants.
Amor and Exile: True Stories of Love Across America’s Borders, by Nathaniel Hoffman and Nicole Salgado, is a non-fiction book about a dozen American couples: U.S. citizens who have been separated from deported spouses or forced abroad indefinitely in order to keep their families together AND in compliance with the law. Hoffman is a journalist based in Idaho who has been following immigration for more than a decade. Salgado is a Central New York native who relocated to Central Mexico in 2006 when she was told she would be unable to obtain legal papers for her husband for at least ten years. Hoffman and Salgado attended Cornell University together in the late 1990s.
We are writing to you today to ask you to please read our book before you vote on the immigration reform packages currently before you. We wrote this book in an attempt to shed light on the unintended consequences of broad inadmissibilities, time bars, unfair standards for “extreme hardship” for immigrant spouses and exclusion of same-sex couples from the family-based immigration system. As Amor and Exile demonstrates, the impact is often graver than any individual legislator’s expectations.
In our book, we not only illustrate American families’ struggles to stay together under current immigration law, but also make suggestions for policy changes to ease the suffering of families separated or in exile due to laws like IIRIRA and to honor our nation’s diversity and family values.
Our book is arriving in your hands today as a result of a nationwide campaign to “Send Amor and Exile to Washington.” The 229 signatories on the back of this letter contributed almost $12,000 in order for us to send you this copy of our book. These people—your constituents—believe that our immigration system should reflect our country’s core beliefs about family values and civil liberties. It is our sincere hope that you will not take their concerns in vain, that you will read Amor and Exile and that when making any final decisions about immigration reform, you will remember the stories of these individuals, their families and millions of others like them.
More information including a summary of the book, bios of the authors and critical acclaim is available at amorandexile.com.
Sincerely,
Nathaniel Hoffman Nicole Salgado